Former Groupon Employees Countersue the Deal-Slinger

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It recently showed some maturity by opting not to run Superbowl ads, and now, its more ruthless side is getting even ruthless-er in a lawsuit against three of its former employees who, independently of each other, left to go work for Google.

We reported on the lawsuit when it was first filed back in October. But now the trio of former Groupon employees -- Nikki Dorough, Brian Hanna and Michael Nolan -- are countersuing.

"These are young people who are industrious, entrepreneurial and trying to earn a living, and Groupon is trying to prevent them from doing that," Steven Molo, a lawyer for the workers, told Reuters. "The law does not allow it."

Things also got a bit uglier when workers accused Groupon of using them as a "prop" to "obtain intelligence on a burgeoning competitor." The workers are also seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, and also want their non-compete clauses to be nixed.

Groupon's stock is at $19.99 -- one cent below where it opened at. But then again, that's according to Google.

David Wolinsky is a freelance writer and a lifelong Chicagoan. In addition to currently serving as an interviewer-writer for Adult Swim, he's also a columnist for EGM. He was the Chicago city editor for The Onion A.V. Club where he provided in-depth daily coverage of this city's bustling arts/entertainment scene for half a decade. When not playing video games for work he's thinking of dashing out to Chicago Diner, Pizano's, or Yummy Yummy. His first career aspirations were to be a game-show host.